1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal having a function of program reception through broadcasting and a function of program reception through communication, and a program reception controlling method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a mobile terminal achieving continuous program viewing/listening by appropriately switching between program reception through broadcasting and program reception through communication with both of the above functions working cooperatively, and a program reception controlling method performed by the mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known, mobile terminals, such as cellular phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), having a function of connecting to a network, such as the Internet, for communication (hereinafter referred to as a communication function) have been widely available. Furthermore, in recent years, mobile terminals having a function of receiving broadcast waves, such as television broadcast waves (hereinafter referred to as a broadcast receiving function) have also been developed. Therefore, it can be expected that mobile terminals will be used more often for viewing television broadcasting.
However, the reception state of a mobile terminal may be deteriorated while the user is moving with the mobile terminal to a place, such as an underground mall, where broadcast waves cannot reach the mobile terminal. If the user moves to such a place where the reception state is deteriorated while viewing or listening to a program through broadcasting by using the mobile terminal, it is likely that continuous viewing/listening of the program will become difficult.
In this case, it would be very convenient if the user can receive the program, of which continuous viewing/listening is difficult, through communication by using the communication function of the mobile terminal via a communication route for continuous program viewing/listening.
Therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a mobile terminal achieving continuous program viewing/listening by appropriately switching between program reception through broadcasting and program reception through communication with both of the broadcast receiving function and the communication function of the mobile terminal working cooperatively, and a program reception controlling method performed by the mobile terminal.